Had It in Holland Park

My first reactions was: $2 billion for a single election, what a waste. Think what that money could do if it were spent on something important.

On reflection, I took a market perspective: $1 billion spent on each campaign means that the buyers think it is worth that amount of money to have their guy win.    Seen that way, it is a rational investment: the $1 billion will come back 10-fold and more in tax money spent on the donors' favorite causes, whether that be tax cuts or increased federal funding. Best democracy money can buy.

If he were a patriotic American, he would support whoever was elected president of the United States. Only commie-pinko running-dog lackeys question the results of an American election.

And all of the campaign managers know this research well. They KNOW that negative campaigns damage and diminish America, but they just flat do not care how much damage they do to our country if it will improve their chance of their guy being elected.

Think of it as professional wrestling: no matter who wins, most of the money ends up in the same pockets.

Who cares what superstitions he holds? If he were a Pastafarian (Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster), maybe we would worry. But his belief structure as a Mormon is no stranger than those of christians, jews, muslims, hindi or any other mainstream superstition

“No! MPs should not be allowed to do things that other normal people do. They should not text with friends, lest those friends later be found guilty of something criminal or embarassing; they should not appear in reality shows, lest they expose themselves as just as selfish and silly as the rest of us; they should not pretend to be celebrities, lest we think them proud of getting elected. They should hunker down in their constituency office and in parliament and keep their mouths shut, lest we wonder why we elected them. How dare they not realise that, once elected, they should have no other life at all.

“I have yet to see a single roving reporter ask a potential - whether network, cable, Huffpo or Fox - ask a potential elector: "As a patriotic American, will you support WHOEVER is elected the President of the United States on Nov 6th?"

All media outlets seem more eager to fan the flames of conflict

“The problem with reading Huffpo and Fox is that one never knows how much is straight reporting and how much is wishful thinking.

“Where did they go? They were deliberately buried by the political pundits on both sides who know that negative attacks damage American by increasing anger, anomie and apathy - but as long as it helps win an election for their side, they do not care how much damage they do to our country.

Better listen Christie, otherwise he'll have your telephones hacked

"MacShane's resignation will trigger a by-election in his South Yorkshire seat, which he won in 2010 with 44% of the vote"

Well, as less than half of the constituency wanted him, they probably won't miss him much.

True (though the sample size is pretty small) and exercise makes your muscles hurt.  In both cases, the more one does it, the less it hurts as strength develops.

"The majority of controlled assessment work was submitted in the summer, and examiners saw evidence of over-marking. As a result, grade boundaries were raised to take account of this, and led to some students getting lower grades than expected."

So because teachers cheated on their marking, the examiners counter-cheated?

PS: I would certainly hope any school that cannot get 40% of its students up to Average would be considered as failing. Such a school would certainly be failing in its duty to its students, and hence failing our society